Sivodushka: why are the Kuril Islands filled with such strange foxes? (5 photos)

Yes, I know the red fox. She lives on 1/3 of the planet. I also know the silver fox. Her beautiful silver-black skins have been of interest to fashionistas and fashionistas for more than a century. What kind of strange fox is this? She looks like she decided to dig through the chimney!





Excuse me, did you accidentally roll a bun here?

And this, gentlemen and ladies, is a gray haired girl. Gray foxes, crosses, bastards and squirrels are called chanterelles whose red fur is painted with black inclusions. All four color morphs differ from each other in fur patterns, but the essence is the same. Parent number one was an ordinary fox with a standard color, while parent number two was a silver fox whose fur is oversaturated with melanin.



The kids of these cuties will become the heroes of our article!

You can find chanterelles almost everywhere within the range of chanterelles. The fact is that silver foxes appear in populations spontaneously and by themselves. Mutations that cause increased melanin production are very common among mammals. Well, their children inherit the color of unwashed chimney sweeps.





When I accidentally sneezed into the open stove at my grandmother’s dacha.

Only the number of silver foxes and, accordingly, silver foxes is very dependent on environmental conditions. In warm climates, silver foxes do not survive well, which is why black and red foxes are almost never found, only a few percent of them exist. In Yakutia, whitefish and other hybrids account for as much as 11% of the population. But this cannot be compared with the foxes in the Kuril Islands. There the number of hybrids reaches 30%!



It was me who came from the street, dirty, scolded by my mother, but happy.

And the environment has nothing to do with it. Until 1916, Japanese animal farms were located in the Kuril Islands, where silver foxes, red foxes and arctic foxes were raised. Over time, the demand for skins decreased, the farms ceased to generate income and they were closed. They did not export the animals, they simply released them into the wild, which led to a sharp increase in the black-haired population of the island.



In the litter of red and black foxes, most often, not gray foxes are born, but ordinary puppies of black or red color.

However, the drop in demand did not completely destroy the industry. Hundreds of fox farms operate around the world today. Moreover, not only ordinary foxes and silver foxes are raised on the territory of fox farms. Sivodushki are also regularly found there. This is not surprising: the skins of hybrid predators are actively being bought, and their price can reach $80 apiece! Many people want to get a fur coat with a unique pattern.